Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

What does he_ mean when he says: ........ b'" ... 116"'" "...I'd feel more .comfortable riding without my pants. " Whatever area is suitable for preservation as wilderness should be cherished and protected by all of us.' Even if we as motorcyclists don't feel like enjoying it, our children or our children's children migh t. But [ stand by my statement that where horses are allowed, motorcyclists have an equal righ l A horse is no better, and quite often worse, than a motorcycle in the wilderness. Most of the high altitude meadows in the Sierra have been ruined and will remain so for decades, not by cycles, but by horses. They don't belong there any more then motorcycles do. Some wilderness areas have extremely fragile ecologies and the presence of horses, motorcycles, snowmobiles or anything else of that nature is destructive. The solution in areas such as that is to get the horses out, not get the motorcyclists in. In many areas of the country horses are allowed but motorcy.clists aren't. These areas are not wilderness and never will be, regardless of what the Sierra Club or the legislature decides. Some such places that the Sierra Club would like to have designated as Wilderness are too close to civilization; others are so unappealing from an aesthetic viewpoint that it would be ,pointless to designate them wilderness. [n these areas [ think cyclists and horsemen both should have trails. Most of the letters [ received emphasized that the writer was willing to write to congressmen and other legislators on a regular basis, and they ignored the "Direct Action" part of what [ suggested. Writing letters is great and should be a part of our program, bu t a secondary part, in support of organizations like MORE and the AMA. These organizations are already well established and functioning; it would be pointless to start another one to do the same thing. None of these already functioning organizations, however, have much of a "Direct Action" program and_none of them have what [ call for lack of a better term the "eccumenical spirit," the desire to work (or play) for all elements of the sport. I did receive some encouraging replies. I was very surprised to receive a ,_ ........ ~ • : • Mike Patrick's •: _YWIfA of COIOIA : : 1101 E. 6th St. - Corona (114) 135-1121 . postcard from the Prospectors stating simply that they would like to be "counted in". [n thinking about it, I shouldn't have been surprised; tile Prospectors have been in the forefron1: of things a number of times. They threw the first nigh t·time enduro two years ago. Now everyone's doing it. They held an [SOT qualifier three years ago to raise money to send a couple of riders over to Spain, when the AMA wasn't sure what the initials [SOT stood for. [ was not only surprised but very happy as well; encouragement 'could not come from a better source. I also got encouraging replies from the Hilltoppers M.C., of Long Beach, the Stanislaus Trailbike Association and the Huntington Beach MC. There were several individual riders who want to participate, some street riders and some cow trailers. So things are not en tire[y bleak, although it looks like we have quite a ways to go before we have a functioning organization. In that column [ kicked out a few ideas and one met with a measure of approval: a ride-in at O'Neil park. Three people though t that was a great idea. Three, however, is not enough for a very effective action. Nobody seemed particularly anxious to try to do anything about th'ose helicopters in Riverside. Let me toss out a couple more ideas and then "kIck it open" for dIscussion so to speak. How many of you have been to Griffith Park recently? Griffith Park is a huge place, almost smack in the middle of the population area of Los Angeles. On Sundays certain small' sections of the park are jammed; on weekdays it's all practically deserted. There's an asphalt mountain road that runs through the park that's a favorite with bike riders and every few feet along that road is a trail taking off in to the park's in terior. These are all designated as hiking and horseback trails, but you can ride up and down that road every day of the week and never see a horseback rider or hiker. You can never go up there without seeing several motorcycles, though, and many of them are enduro type bikes. [ don't know how you feel, but those BSA lie. 1971 $999.00 650cc Fire Bird-Financing large red and white signs telling me to keep off the trails that my tax money supports just irritates the hell out of me. There is no reason on earth why we shouldn't be able to use some of those trails. In fact, considering the number of hikers and horsemen who don't use them, there's precious little reason why we shouldn't be able to use all of them. Griffith Park is directly adjacent of the L.A. river which is a natural corridor into the center of the city. Down south there are several sandwashes that lead into it. They are already talking about letting bicycles use the riv.er. This would be a natural spot for us to ride. You could promote ·some trail or wash in YOUT own area over to the river, ride up the river (or down, from the valley) and then ride some pleasan t trails in Griffi th Park. Some of the poorer kids in the city who can't afford to truck 150 miles out to the desert could go trnil riding for 75 cen ts worth of gas. There is no ecological reason why we shouldn't ride there. The vegetation is all second-growth stuff that burns over whenever it gets too high and besides, there's no way to get off the trails. Thick brush and steep hills ate a sufficient .deterrent. There should be relatively few user conflicts. Griffith Park is not a very pleasant place to hike, especially in the summer, and most of the trails go unused a good part of the time. Although the area is a bit small for enduros, it would be fan tastic for English trials. Or, how about a dawn trail ride on Easter Sunday with a breakfast cookout on top of Mount Hollywood. We could have 2000 riders, all riding their bikes righ t from their homes up to the mountain. Road riders and trailriders could all participate. Does this idea have any appeal? [ have several notions about how to . approach this problem but I'd like to know if anyone out there like the id,eas and I'd like to hear your suggestions on the best way to proceed. I'd also like to hear about any other project that particularly turns you on. During the next couple months ['II use some of this column space as a forum for ideas from any of you who are interested in getting involved in these projects. When you ,.~ • ~ LEAK PROOF FORK SEALS , .. GUARANTEED 1 YEAR - ... BSAoTRIUMPHoKAWASAKloNORTON Sales Parts Accessories Service CEIITURY MOTORCYCLES s. Pacific Ave. San Pedro 213/832-6190 • I~ §t ...... International Cycle House .-' ~, '267 North Wilton Place Los Angeles Calilorma 90038 Phone (213) 467 3074 MOLL Y BLUE gIves you more new & us ESO SPEEDW :,. 'BIKES J.A.P. AMA 125 MILE NATIONAL ENDURO October 29 Memphis, Texas SPECIAL FATHER AND SON CLASSES. LIMITED TO 600 RIDERS_ FIRST COME FIRST SERVED. ENTRIES OPEN JULY 1st, CLOSE OCTOBER 1st. NO POST ENTRY. WRITE FOR ENTRY BLANK: TRACK AND TRAIL RIDERS BOX 9251 Amarillo, Texas 79105 P.G.'s& ~ Fallb 1 edsCycles IA W .. than you expected to get write please let me know if it's okay to quote you. ['II use any ideas that seem to have any sort. of merit but ['II withhold names or organizations if you so desire. Once we get a pr,oject that seems to have a number of people in.!:erest\!a we'll hold a meeting e on a plan of action, but.rli s no sense to planning °'actio'n until we have enough interested people to .make it go. I'll try to answer all letters, either by mail or in this column. Write: Ron Schneiders P.O. Box 29385 Los Angeles, Calif. 90029 DESERT CLEAN UP A new club, the San Fernando Valley M.C., is sponsoring a Desert Clean Up. The date is August 6, sun-up until noon. They're offering free refreshments and a prize drawing. Every bag of trash gets a ticket. They could use some help in the way of money (for johns and trash bags) and more prizes. Everyone is urged to bring his own supply of bags and to tell everyone about it. The area is Highway 395 north of Adelanto. The trash to be picked up was deposited by almost everyone except cyclists. The clean up will serve two purposes. Besides making the desert a more enjoyable place, it will make it less hazardous: The trash will be used to fill mineshafts. It seems to me like the club has chosen a rather unfortunate date for this very worthwile project because, barring miracle" it's going to be awfully hot and I'm not sure just how many people can physically stand to walk in the desert in August, but if able, please do. For more information call 213/398-9188. A NEW PRODUCT FOR ENDURO RIDERS I don't often mention products because quite frankly few of them live up to my expectations, but here's an exception. The Dial-A·Enduro is a device for keeping time on enduros. It's designed to handle almost any kind of schedule imaginable. It's individually calibrated to your own speedometer and it's easy to use. So far I've won two trophies using the one I was given and come very close in two other runs, quite fantastic for me. The unit consists of a watch holder that is mounted on the handlebar, a good quality watch, and a movable dial that goes over the top of the watch. There is also a separate drum unit that spells out which scale-you should be using for any given average speed. To use the unit, you simply note which number the minute hand of the watch is pointing to and multiply that number by whatever the drum calls for. That gives you the mileage your'speedometer should read. It's quite simple in practice and very accurate. During any given section you don't have to make any .adjustments at all and you never have to touch the watch during the run. The thing is being marketed by RESA Distributing Co., P.O. Box 7332, Sacramento, CaliL 95826. It sells for about $40.00. Hand • Riding • Racing • Street GLOVES Washable Stay Soft Othman Distributing Co. 18227 Ludlow SI. Northridll". ClI, 91324 I· Dealer Inquiries Invited (2131 363-6230 Basqva....a Klocker's SA'LES & SERVICE f rom a chain lube. 6624 Atlantic, Bell, Ca. (213) 581 ·3983 ' S. Main : ok, Calli, 92028 14) 728-8638 DUCATI Spectator liability and, riders medical insurance for track owners, .. K.&.G,...eng,neerlng _ .. promoters, clubs and recreational parks. FRAME MODIFICATIONS Production prices now available for Yamaha DT·1. RT-1, CT·1. AT-1 & Suzuki 400 & Hodaka 100 Other rna kes & models altered per your specs at slightly higher cost 2353 San Fernando Rd. P,O. Box 65735 Los Angeles. Calif. 90065 (213) 222-8778 S. HARRIS PINSKY Century United Agencies 1888 Century Park East, Suite 1015 Los Angeles, Calif. 90067 - (213) 553-3511 v, ..- .. , BROKER INQUIRIES INVITED g « f/l ;;: W Z W ..J (,) >(,)

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